


Speechless

by SmolDargon



Series: Adventures in Anatomy [14]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Illness, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, anatomical discussion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:40:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29984364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmolDargon/pseuds/SmolDargon
Summary: The human has been oddly quiet today.
Relationships: Papyrus/Original Human Character
Series: Adventures in Anatomy [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2205429
Kudos: 2





	Speechless

The human was a curious creature. While sturdy, and certainly harder to hurt than a monster, she was also uniquely vulnerable to a vast array of invasions and malfunctions. Just when he thought he had her strange, fleshy body figured out, something happened that called everything he knew about her into question. Today was one such occasion. He had called her, and she had actually declined the call. Normally, she would just let it ring at worst, and he could leave a voicemail. But this time, she actually declined it. His confusion and worry was interrupted by a text. They were easier now, since she had shown him the text-to-speech feature on his phone. It wasn't perfect, but it helped when he had trouble unscrambling the letters.

The Human: I'm sorry, Paps, I can't talk right now. Everything ok?

Skelebabe: I WAS JUST GOING TO ASK IF YOU WERE IN THE MOOD FOR COMPANY, I HAVE A NEW RECIPE I WANTED TO TRY AND MAKE FOR YOU!

The Human: That sounds nice! Yeah, you can let yourself in whenever, I don't work til later.

That was suspicious. If she was just sitting at home, why had she rejected his call? Even so, he gathered his ingredients and made the drive to her house.

She had left the door unlocked in anticipation of his arrival, but didn't respond when he called for her. He initially thought she might be outside, but given the chill and the knowledge that he was coming, he doubted that. Her cats looked up lazily from their cuddle puddle on the couch, barely dignifying his approach with a yawn and a chirrup.

"GOOD MORNING, KITTIES. WHERE IS YOUR MOTHER?"

They simply stretched and curled in tighter on themselves. It seemed they would be no help in locating his human. He wandered into the kitchen to deposit his ingredients, practically stumbling over the human in the process.

"OH! I DIDN'T SEE YOU THERE! HELLO!"

She smiled and offered her usual greeting hug, which he gladly accepted. He began setting up his supplies on her counter. She couldn't be certain, but it looked like some sort of casserole. She began pulling a pan and mixing bowl out, along with the spoon he requested. He wittered on about the recipe, his day so far, his plans for later, and so forth for several minutes uninterrupted. The human seemed just as attentive as usual, but she was oddly quiet.

"YOU... HAVEN'T SAID A WORD SINCE I ARRIVED. IS SOMETHING WRONG?"

She opened her mouth to speak, then seemingly thought better of it, holding up a finger and pulling her phone out. He waited curiously. After a few moments, she handed the device to him, with a web page pulled up.

"LARYNGITIS? HUMAN, HONESTLY, YOU GET SICK SO OFTEN THESE DAYS!"

She shook her head vehemently, scrolling down to a list of causes. She pointed out one in particular.

"VOCAL STRAIN? HUMAN?"

He gave her a sly look.

"YOU STRAINED YOUR VOICE BY SINGING TOO LOUDLY, DIDN'T YOU?"

It was less a question and more an accusation. And if the nearly fluorescent red blush on her face was anything to judge by, his assumption had been correct. He couldn't help laughing at her predicament.

"NYEHEH! YOU HAVE THE STRANGEST MALFUNCTIONS, HUMAN!"

She tried--and failed--to hide a grin as she gave him a playful nudge. He decided he would simply speak enough for the both of them as he continued preparing the dish. Once it was in the oven, timer set, they retreated to the couch.

"SO, THIS ARTICLE SAYS LARYNGITIS IS CAUSED WHEN YOUR VOCAL CORDS SWELL UP? THAT MUST BE UNCOMFORTABLE."

She shrugged nonchalantly, thought she did gesture grandly to a glass of water she had been sipping and refilling.

"WATER HELPS THE SORENESS, GOT IT."

She nodded.

"AND, THESE CORDS ARE IN YOUR THROAT... YOU'RE NOT HAVING TROUBLE BREATHING OR ANYTHING, ARE YOU?", he asked as a small note of panic crept into his voice.

She gave him a bit of a look, before resorting to signing. She had picked up rudimentary ASL to try and communicate better with Wingdings. His font was... difficult at best, and so with anyone besides his brothers, he typically signed. The human wasn't particularly good at it, typically spelling things out letter by letter. This time, she had a simple statement.

"If I were having trouble breathing, you would know about it."

That made sense. Breathing was one of those things humans needed to do constantly. Any sort of distress would be immediately obvious. Aside from a cough, she seemed to have no trouble moving air.

"POINT TAKEN. IT ALSO SAYS HERE THAT YOU BASICALLY JUST HAVE TO REST YOUR VOICE FOR IT TO HEAL UP? HOW LONG DOES THAT TAKE?"

She shrugged, holding up two fingers, then tentatively adding a third.

"TWO OR THREE DAYS?"

She nodded. That didn't seem so bad. Although, it did raise a question.

"HOW DO YOU INTEND TO WORK LIKE THIS? DOESN'T YOUR JOB REQUIRE YOU TO SPEAK AND ANSWER PHONES?"

Her gesture seemed to indicate a "yes and no". Her signing wasn't enough to communicate her point properly, so she simply texted it to him.

"There are places I can be that minimize how much talking I need to do. I'll just ask to be a bagger instead of a runner or manning the phones."

"THAT'S GOOD, I SUPPOSE. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO CALL YOUR WORK FOR YOU, TO EXPLAIN THE SITUATION?"

She thought for a moment, then nodded, texting him the explanation she wanted given to her boss. In the end, her manager had decided that since it was likely to be slow, she could just stay home. That was fine by her, it seemed. She wore her exhaustion more frequently these days. She was trying very hard to improve her mental health, and some things were harder than others. A day off seemed like just what she needed.

By then, the timer had gone off, signifying that his dish was finished cooking. Her kitchen had an island with bartop-esque seating, which she set up for the two of them to sit at. Meanwhile, he pulled the food from the oven. It smelled delicious, both of them agreed. It also tasted wonderful. He had certainly come a long way since nearly burning his house down trying to cook pasta.

He continued to fill the silence with one-sided conversation. He had realized fairly quickly that, without a voice to retort back, she was much easier to compliment. He could tell her all he liked how much he cared about her, and all she could do was blush and turn away. Once their dishes were in the washer and the leftovers packed away, he continued to say nice things about her nonstop. She was bad at accepting them, but today she had no choice, especially once he had pulled her into an embrace and refused to let her go. At one point, she had actually tried to deny one of his compliments. Her voice was almost too quiet to hear, and it was rough, like sandpaper. He paid her actual words no mind, cooing over her dysfunctional lack of voice and continuing to express his affection. If it were possible, she turned even redder, obviously a little unhappy with being fawned over like a puppy or a small child.

Mercifully, he did finally tire of flustering her, and they turned their attention to a TV show they had barely been paying attention to originally. However, he still insisted on cuddling. She couldn't complain about that--literally couldn't, under the circumstances--not that she wanted to. Overbearing affection aside, she loved her skeleton, and she couldn't be happier, even forced into silence by her faulty body.

**Author's Note:**

> If you really thought I was gonna strictly write anatomy and not include a plot or romantic fluff, you were wrong!


End file.
